During the middle of November I was given a chance to participate in the FINA world cup. This is kind of a big thing as the FINA world cup is an event held for some of the fastest swimmers in the world, world records holders and olympic champions. While I never intended to beat them or anything, there was a lot you can learn from such a highly publicised meet. With professional camera equipment for TV and a huge crowd it was a great experience.
But it was also really intimidating. There was a lot of pressure during the event to do the best that I could. Due to my many, many, meets before I knew what I had to do, yet there was still areas which were really put to the test. Things like following proper procedure, swimming down, warming up, stretching, eating properly, and so on. While I was capable of doing these things, they also took a lot of mental focus and concentration to do them correctly, which sometimes I don’t put into swimming (in the recent years). The high intensity atmosphere really helped push me physically and mentally be in the zone. And I made sure to take a moment to calm down and relax before going into a race. It was important to clear my mind to not get distracted so I could do my best.
Considering I was recently sick and had just had HS ACSIS the week before, I’d say my races went alright. In addition to racing, school didn’t stop so I had to balance my school work with resting and competing, this may of been the biggest challenge of them all. I needed to be super organised and resilient as I had to race in the morning and be ready to learn in the afternoon, getting all my homework done in frees and in-between races, and packing and planning out my next day the day before.
The meet in conclusion was a really good learning experience and a good introduction into a higher level of swimming. I really enjoyed the opportunity and look forward to competing next year.
Learning outcomes and reflection questions topics included:
- Big picture (Goals, Action and Learning)
- LO 1 AWARENESS (Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth)
- LO 2 CHALLENGE (Undertaken new challenges)/NEW SKILLS (Developing new skills)
- LO3 INITIATIVE (Planning and initiated activities)
- LO 4 COMMITMENT (Showing perseverance, resilience and commitment in activities)
- LO 5 COLLABORATION (Working together to achieve an outcome)
- LO 6 GLOBAL VALUE (Engaging with issues of global importance)
- LO 7 ETHICS (Considering the ethical implications of actions)
